For those wondering how to nap at the office and not get hauled into the managers office for sleeping on the job, I paraphrase a tip from Scott Adams (Dilbert):

"Grab a handful of paperclips and find an office/meeting room. Shut the door and lie down on the ground with your feet against the door. Sprinkle the paperclips in front of you. Now have a nap.

If someone tries to enter the room, the door will hit your feet. This will naturally cause them to pause (and stops them entering), it wakes you up and lets you reach for the paperclips which gives you a ready excuse ("Oh sorry, I was just picking up the paperclips")"

:)

I cannot overstate how much power naps have improved my life. I started doing them regularly about seven years ago and have been recommending them to everyone I can since. Napping makes me happier, more alert, and way more productive.

A shameless plug: I wrote a post about how I learned to nap here: http://unschooled.org/2011/05/how-i-nap

Here is a way to generate simple, wonderful pink noise (with a slight tremolo) from the commandline, if you have sox installed. It somewhat mimics the sounds of waves on a beach - I find it very relaxing.

A nice side affect (and the reason I played around with it originally) is that it helps mask tinnitus when it gets too annoying (I find that if tinnitus flares up too loud, it can make it more difficult to fall asleep).

The cmdline:

  play -t sl -r48000 -c2 - synth -1 pinknoise tremolo .1 40 <  /dev/zero

The lark and owl distinction has been driving me crazy since I thought about my sleeping habits. I spent about 2 years with completely self-determined sleep (I even collected sleep data) and do not even approximately fit into those schemes. I alternate between a lot of sleep and no sleep over the course of 10 days continually shifting my waking hours into the night until I reset. Some people claim that this would be unhealthy, but (measured by introspection) I felt good and haven't been sick during that time. And I have spoken to some people that feel similar.

While all this is not based on anything that can withstand analysis, it adds a strange flavor to advice when it starts with broad categories which seem not entirely correct.

I've tried this so many times but I just can't fall asleep in the middle of the day unless I'm seriously exhausted. Anyone out there able to beat the "can't fall asleep unless conditions are perfect" curse?

Twenty minute naps leave me in a horrid state of disarray. It takes me about an hour to recover from the grogginess, so I tend to stay as far away from them as possible. I've experimented with time and location variations, but never with any success. It makes me sad, because I know tons of people who work naps into their day with fantastic results.

Sadly, here in Brazil when I tell someone that I need a nap in the afternoon to be really productive almost everyone says "You are lazy" or something like that. I have worked in a single company that I had some time to take a 15-20 minutes nap in the afternoon and the boost in my productivity was simply outstanding.

Some tips on how to get white noise.

- Obviously you can set a radio between channels, but I often don't have a radio in the room but do have a computer, so...

- In linux, if you have ALSA installed, you can type

    cat /dev/urandom | aplay -f cd

in the console, or

    cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp

for OSS

- On the internet, there's http://simplynoise.com/

My Dad always took powernaps and still does. He has the ability to sit down in just about any reasonably comfortable chair, and go to sleep on command. He can then wake up 5, 15, or 30 minutes later and be fully alert. Noise, light, temperature - doesn't worry him.

He laughs about it but it's got to be a skill built up over years by practicing.

The one trick he did teach me for a mid-day nap was to lie on your back on the floor and put your legs up on a chair (calf muscles on the seat, feet against the backrest). For some reason it really seems to help, I assume it's circulation related.

I'm glad that this provides scientific justification for that napping danger zone between 45 and 90 minutes. Having taken naps that have ended in that precarious time span, I can attest that it feels like you're worse off than when you started.

There's been so much well-publicized research on the positive impact of sleep on performance, and hugely detrimental effect of not getting enough sleep.

Why do so many companies still force their employees to work with so little sleep? Why do they still frown at sleeping on the job? And why don't more of them provide cots, sofas and showers, when they can easily afford them?

For decades, some of the more enlightened companies have been providing in-company cafeterias, laundry, fridges and microwaves in office kitchens, and other amenities so that employees don't feel like they need to leave the workplace as much. You'd think these companies would recognize that providing sleeping facilities is the next logical step. Why don't they?

Has anyone ever used phone apps that purport to wake you up at the right time by using the accelerometer to detect how much you're moving in your sleep?

Example: http://www.sleepcycle.com/

I've used this but only for a few times because it requires the phone to be activated all night, which makes it quite warm in the morning. But it seemed to make me less groggy...but I can't tell if that's just confirmation bias...

I haven't thought of using it for just 45 min spans though

Not everyone sleeps in the same way. After a doctor suggested I do an overnight sleep study, I found out that I often reach REM within 5 to 10 minutes.

Taking even a 15 minute nap in my car right after lunch completely boosts my creative thinking and problem solving ability.

First time I'm seeing this, thanks for sharing.

Where it mentions a nap makes stage 2 sleep, I know my ability to nap can depend on how quickly I can fall asleep.

I've found meditating for 5-10 minutes even at my desk offers a similar result to napping, without the nap-hangover/grogginess.

The feeling? Like when we wake up, fresh, clear minded, focused, settled and ready to go.

I've found 15-20 minutes naps after having lunch, to be amazing. I can wake up really quickly and being fully alert to keep working, without any drowsiness or performance hits.

I wish I could wake up with the same mood in the morning. I find it really hard to even wake up without putting the alarm in snooze at least twice.

It amazes me that people can "nap". I can only nap when extremely tired, and at that point, I'm so behind on sleep that 20 minutes won't do a thing. I'll be lucky to wake up, and if I do, I'll be just as groggy. :)

I usually get one nap a week on Sunday afternoons for about 3 hours. I find that I feel more creative and ambitious in the period after this nap than at any other time in the week. While it is feasible to add one more day to my nap schedule, I have yet to do it. I am rather much looking forward to when my schedule will allow for a daily nap.

I'm a big fan of siestas. I even put my pyjamas on to nap.

I am lucky: I work in the village I grew up in. When I am too tired I tell my boss: "I am not productive, I am going home to sleep, I will work the remaining hours of the day at home after I wake up." My bed is then a 3 minute bicycle ride away.

On a more helpful note: I learned how to nap by having siesta when I helped someone build a house in the South of France. A mid-day nap there was common, even for those in the public sector. They reasoned that in summer it was just too hot too work.

I would do my napping where ever I'd like: the grass, a garden chair, a leather sofa. It took about 2 weeks to actually "get" it, but it did my body good. Sometimes I skipped a day because I wanted to read or w/e, but I'd still take my moment of rest.

Finally! I was wondering how to do this!

On a real note, napping changed my life. And when I had my own business, it really helped productivity to have a nap in the middle of the day. Now I work for the machine, and naps are unfortunately not allowed.

This "nap wheel" is useful for finding the right time to nap:

http://www.saramednick.com/htmls/book/napwheel.htm

Good info. I learned this years ago from my great-grandmother. She took a nap every afternoon for 20 to 25 minutes.

Now, living in Chengdu, office workers here are encouraged to nap after lunch time, around 2. At my wife's office, there is a chime followed by soft music twice a day, reminding workers its time for a break to do eye exercise, something they teach or at least used to teach in Chinese elementary school. Many offices in Chengdu also have a tea break around 4 ;)

When I went to Bolivia, everyone went home for a 2 to 3 hour after lunch. All businesses would close. The work day started at 7AM and ended at 6PM IIRC.

Apparently, this is most popular in warmer countries. Nap aka siesta times correspond with the hottest and most dangerous parts of the day in terms of UV radiation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siesta

Glad to see others power nap also, I thought I was just weird.

My routine is at about 1:30 slouch in my chair leaning back with my hands atop my head with fingers inter locked.

Whats strange is that I don't really goto sleep. I can hear everything going on around me but my mind is just totally blank and not focused on anything.

I stay like this for around 15-20 min then snap out of it fully refreshed!

I've adjusted recently to have 1.5 hour naps in the middle of the day (I'm a college student), so then I can go to bed at around 1 AM and wake up at 7:30 AM, and be well-rested and awake the entire day.

It's almost like taking the nap in the middle day gives my brain a "restart" so it's refreshed and prepared to focus the rest of the night.

It's interesting to note the immediate difference between a short nap (less than 45 mins) and one longer. I've never heard the pre nap coffee suggestions! I take naps frequently and hate when I over sleep or wake up from one longer than an hour and a half due to the groggy/grumpy side effects.

Really interesting and insightful piece!

Why is sleeping on the job frowned upon for programmers? I asked for it once and was denied like it was some outlandish request. I thought I was doing them a favor by asking (by wanting to raise my energy levels during the midday slump).

It just reaffirmed that 9 to 5 culture is not for me.

I wish this was a higher-resolution image (or text... one can dream, right?). It's awfully hard to read.

I don't nap (yet), but we get relaxing 30 min massages every other week at work. After that I'm a new person, and the thought of getting only a small portion of that relaxation every day...

I have a colleague who regularly meditates, he simply grabs a free meeting room.

This whole time, I thought I had a sleeping problem because I couldn't fall asleep until after 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m. and I would get irritable and tired from 3-6 p.m. Now if only that didn't clash with my work hours.

I read that using an alarm to wake you up is not good. The perfect sleeping rithm is different from one person to another so I can't tell people how they should sleep, there are people who can, they studied for it.

Another nap infographic...

http://www.patioproductions.com/blog/wp-content/upLoads/2011...

Shameless plug: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/just15min/id471609083?ls=1...

I wrote an iPhone app for this

In Japan noone is allowed to nap much less sleep. I need to move.

How can I use this to better wake up in the morning, instead of groggy with "sleep inertia"? Set an alarm 90 minutes before I want to wake up, plus one when I want to wake up?

Here's my angle on this: http://danieltenner.com/posts/0017-how-to-nap.html

Old, but interesting. I wonder if hackers nap more often?

What I do to fall take a nap or fall asleep is to focus on a point just outside of my right temple, tension drops and mind rest for me faster that way.

I noticed that in the picture for 'owls' the best time to nap is 2 pm and ~3:15 pm, but the text says 'closer to 2:30 pm or 3 pm. Which is it?

Pro tip I learned from the world of ultra-cycling (riding a bikes for days at a time):

- Drink coffee as you prepare to nap

- Take 20 minute power nap as caffeine gets in your system

- Win

A 3 year old infographic rises from ashes...

It takes me like 40 minutes to fall asleep for a nap. I'm much too alert during the day after a full night's rest.

find a nearby hotel with meeting space, usually on a mezzanine level (easy if you're in a city). these areas are often empty. find a comfy chair or couch and nap with a manilla folder or book on your lap so you don't look like a bum. set your phone to go off in 30 minutes.

I really need that. Wallpaper-ed.

According to my zeo deep sleep usually starts way before 45 minutes into sleep.

Doesn't this depend on person? I never had naps and don't feel like I need.

but surely you can still dream in non REM sleep can't you?

I love naps.

Is "nap" what they call coffee these days?